19 replies to this topic

[mike250]

Not sure where to put this but here goes

on Tuesday I went for an endoscopy. Came out feeling the effects of the sedative and felt pretty good afterwards. Prior to that I have stopped taking PPIs for 3 weeks to prepare for the test

Next day I woke up with significant tightness across the chest. Had a single meal of half an avocado and some fried eggs. drank some tea later at night.

On Thursday I woke up with heavy breathing and significant chest pain. I did a heart exercise (ECG) and some blood tests (CBC, C-Reactive protein, Glucose). Pain dissipated after exercise. blood tests were negative and the ECG was fine

came back and had some chicken with rice as a meal then relaxed on the sofa. within an hour or so I could feel the food up my throat (bolus i think is the word). felt pain at the bottom of the neck. coughed a bit as well

I'm not sure whats causing all this and i'm wondering if i should go back to the PPIs I was using. I'm seeing the doctor again on Monday and considering asking about a "liquid diet"

any advice would be appreciated

Edited by mike250, 14 May 2010 - 04:02 AM.

[ajnast4r]

what drug were you given as a sedative? sounds like anxiety or gerd to me. why didnt you start the PPI's again?

[mike250]

I was given Midazolam 5mg IV as the sedative

I just started my PPI today. 20mg of Omeprazole

Is it worth adding any other supplements to help with the gerd

Edited by mike250, 15 May 2010 - 02:56 AM.

[Jay]

Do you have any signs of GI bleeding? For example, very dark bowel movements or ground-coffee-like vomit. It's possible the dr did some damage with the endoscope. Otherwise, GERD or anxiety sound about right.

Edited by Jay, 15 May 2010 - 03:15 AM.

[mike250]

Do you have any signs of GI bleeding? For example, very dark bowel movements or ground-coffee-like vomit. It's possible the dr did some damage with the endoscope. Otherwise, GERD or anxiety sound about right.

I passed stool on the same day as the endoscopy and it was fine. No vomiting so far.

[niner]

It's possible that you had a physical injury from the endoscopy. It doesn't sound like a Midazolam side effect. Propofol tends to be preferred over midazolam for endo procedures. They're both amnestic but propofol clears quickly and relatively cleanly. 20 mg omeprazole is not a big dose; if it's not working for you, you could take two to match the usual prescription dose. GERD has been talked about here, and since it's got more than three characters, our brain damaged search function will actually work if you want to look for threads.

[mike250]

just to update this. today i'm on 40mg of omeprazole. Yesterday had an "attack". shallow breathing, pain in the right biceps, pain in the left biceps, fingers were red. had to sleep outside my room

[ajnast4r]

just to update this. today i'm on 40mg of omeprazole. Yesterday had an "attack". shallow breathing, pain in the right biceps, pain in the left biceps, fingers were red. had to sleep outside my room

what exactly is this attack? do you think you may be having anxiety attacks?

[mike250]

doctor said it is a panic attack or an allergic response to something in the room. I'm doing further tests to rule out any other possibilities and will be cleaning out my room completely. I think my body has been reacting quite negatively to the procedure last week and the anxiety (thinking about it too much) was making it worse. Today however I feel slightly better than last week (might be because I restarted my PPI regimen)

Edited by mike250, 17 May 2010 - 03:24 AM.

[ken_akiba]

Improper endoscope sterilization is a big big issue all over the world. Sometimes presence of harmful bacteria in intestines can trigger systemic autoimmune response. If I were you, I would ask for thorough test for infection.

Take care.

[mike250]

what sorts of tests would you recommend in particular?

[ken_akiba]

My suggestions

1. Take probiotics right away. This will work if your symptoms are autoimmune response i.e. the pathogen has not yet entered bloodstream. Good gut bactria will eventually win the territorial war and eradicate bad ones.
2. Pathogen may have entered bloodstream. Your doctor will definately test Staphylococcus strains and maybe some other bacteria strains. Appropriate antibiotics will be prescribed.
3. For now you might also want to take third gen. or fourth gen oral Cephalosporins as an empiric measure, but if your case is case 1 i.e. the pathogen has not yet entered bloodstream, this will actually make the symptoms worse as the antibiotics will kill Probiotics.

Take care.

[mike250]

another update: had some dinner today at 7:00pm food consisted of avocado, some chicken and strawberries. at 10:00 pm had difficulty breathing accompanied by chest tightness and pain. Doctor suspects i got a viral infection as a result of my procedure earlier on and it should self-correct. either that or some sort of esophageal spasm. I am thinking of trying a calcium channel blocker.

Edited by mike250, 18 May 2010 - 06:31 PM.

[ajnast4r]

i would also insist on a thorough test for infection. you might want to try asking your doc for some ativan and see if that relives your 'attacks'

[niner]

another update: had some dinner today at 7:00pm food consisted of avocado, some chicken and strawberries. at 10:00 pm had difficulty breathing accompanied by chest tightness and pain. Doctor suspects i got a viral infection as a result of my procedure earlier on and it should self-correct. either that or some sort of esophageal spasm. I am thinking of trying a calcium channel blocker.

I can't see how a viral infection would cause these symptoms. If I presented with symptoms like that, my doctor (who, admittedly, is a bit of a nut) would be doing the full court press diagnostic mania. The esophageal spasm sounds like a reasonable possibility. It would be useful to know if an inhaled beta agonist (typical asthma rescue inhaler, e.g. albuterol) would change the breathing situation. That might tell you if it was in the lungs or not. My guess would be not, but you never know. There is a long time delay between eating and the symptoms, which argues against esophageal spasm. An EKG, particularly if it was during symptoms, would seem like a good piece of data.

[mike250]

an update on this:

yesterday had my last meal at around 4:30-5:00pm

at around 9:30-10:00pm had some mild chest pains but nothing like the previous episodes.

Took some antacid which made it slightly better

Reflux seems to only occur at night-time

Edited by mike250, 20 May 2010 - 09:33 PM.

[mike250]

further update

chest pains are still there. feel like a crushing pain. usually early morning and at night-time

got some ativan

going to see the gastro to hopefully figure this out

[mike250]

further update

every other day chest tightness at night-time. Pain is eased with 2 glasses of cold water (Night-time GERD perhaps)

After morning meal feels like a lot of pressure in middle/upper part of chest (burping helps although it does feel stuck at times). Lying down makes it worse. bending forwards helps. some throat strips helps a lot.

(seems like i'm over-producing gas)--- perhaps as a result of the GERD----

Occasional feeling of bolus in the neck, nausea (doctor says this is due to the acid reflux)

Gastro ruled out spasm however he is considering an x-ray barium and some motility tests a month out from now. Was also asked to lose weight (dropped 5kgs so far)


I've narrowed down this issue to one of three things: 1) GERD 2) Anxiety (least likely) and 3) Gastroparesis (although the endoscopy would have showed something abnormal)


Next week I'm performing a sleep study and an abdominal ultrasound

Edited by mike250, 29 May 2010 - 03:28 AM.

[mike250]

got some nasty nausea half an hour ago. Took some Metamide to help. I wonder if fresh ginger would have helped and further wonder if this isn't from the PPI usage.

Edited by mike250, 29 May 2010 - 05:21 AM.

[mike250]

if you guys have any further suggestions please advise